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p. 148 - Magic Kingdom Destination D23 news roundup!

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We have a closing date for Hall of Presidents. The ride will be closed from January 17th through June 29th for the new orange animatronic. God help the guys who have to make the hair.

 

You know, the more I think about this the more I think it's kind of ridiculous. For a company that's trying to cut budget, Hall of Presidents absolutely forces them to spend a ton of money on a state of the art animatronic every 4 to 8 years for an attraction that brings absolutely nobody into the park. I highly doubt they'll ever see any kind of return on this investment but they're really forced to do it which is a real shame since the money would probably be better spent on other improvements or even another animatronic (possibly of the yeti variety) that people would actually care about.

 

They're hamstrung though because if they ever remove it or if they ever don't add the new president, it's bound to turn into a huge news story that angers roughly 50% of the population. They're damned if they don't do it, but nobody cares when they do and I'm sure it doesn't make them a dime.

 

Thoughts? Maybe I'm underestimating the appeal of the Hall of Presidents but it never struck me as an overly popular attraction.

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^I think you're spot on. I was almost hoping that with the success of the Muppet Show they are doing in that same plaza they could instead announce the closing of Hall of Presidents and move a more elaborate Muppet History show into the building, but you're right, the crazies would come out of the woodwork and cause trouble.

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We have a closing date for Hall of Presidents. The ride will be closed from January 17th through June 29th for the new orange animatronic. God help the guys who have to make the hair.

 

You know, the more I think about this the more I think it's kind of ridiculous. For a company that's trying to cut budget, Hall of Presidents absolutely forces them to spend a ton of money on a state of the art animatronic every 4 to 8 years for an attraction that brings absolutely nobody into the park. I highly doubt they'll ever see any kind of return on this investment but they're really forced to do it which is a real shame since the money would probably be better spent on other improvements or even another animatronic (possibly of the yeti variety) that people would actually care about.

 

They're hamstrung though because if they ever remove it or if they ever don't add the new president, it's bound to turn into a huge news story that angers roughly 50% of the population. They're damned if they don't do it, but nobody cares when they do and I'm sure it doesn't make them a dime.

 

Thoughts? Maybe I'm underestimating the appeal of the Hall of Presidents but it never struck me as an overly popular attraction.

 

Its garbage. Only uber Disney fans care because Walt probably thought of it in the middle of a wet dream or something like that. Pave it or put in a meet and greet IMO. Only problem is it took Trump getting elected to get people to start thinking my way.

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Its garbage. Only uber Disney fans care because Walt probably thought of it in the middle of a wet dream or something like that. Pave it or put in a meet and greet IMO. Only problem is it took Trump getting elected to get people to start thinking my way.

 

You're 100% right but they're stuck now. If they announced it's closure 50% of the country will lose their collective sh*t and start harassing Disney PR and with a social media firestorm. Most of these people won't actually be potential customers and many of them will have never heard of the attraction before but we all know it would happen, especially because they're convinced that the media / corporations / fact checkers / basically everyone is out to get them already and it would just reinforce that idea and add fuel to the batsh*t crazy fire (I'm trying to be diplomatic here, not sure if it's working but I'm trying...lol).

 

Once they actually add the animatronic and sink a ton of money into it they can't close it either, so really the thing to do would be to wait at least 3 years until early into the next election season and close it then. Until then you're stuck with the stupid thing.

 

This attraction sucks on so many levels though. People have become militant about politics lately (thanks in large part to social media) and the idea of bringing politics into the "happiest place on earth" just seems like a truly miserable idea. For a place that's supposed to be an escape from reality, there's nothing that brings you back to reality like seeing side by side Barack Obama and Donald Trump animatronics. If they left it with presidents that are well respected by everyone from hundreds of years ago like Lincoln and Washington that would be another story, but I don't get the appeal of bringing in modern day politicians.

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I have no evidence to back this up, but I feel pretty safe going out on a limb and saying that the amount of money spent on updating Hall of Presidents every 4 years is a drop in the bucket compared to the money spent on rehabbing other attractions that require it more frequently or on new attractions. I'm assuming it's seen as a small price to pay for updating a heritage attraction with mostly nostalgic appeal.

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HOP is one of my favorite attractions in the park. Its multi generational, updated every 8 years which keeps it fresh (the whole show and narration is updated, not just the president), is indoors and air conditioned, and is relatively cheap to operate compared to most other attractions. There are many other attractions that are actually bad and could be candidates for removal such as Stitch's Great Escape, Universe of Energy, and Imagination.

 

This attraction sucks on so many levels though. People have become militant about politics lately (thanks in large part to social media) and the idea of bringing politics into the "happiest place on earth" just seems like a truly miserable idea. For a place that's supposed to be an escape from reality, there's nothing that brings you back to reality like seeing side by side Barack Obama and Donald Trump animatronics. If they left it with presidents that are well respected by everyone from hundreds of years ago like Lincoln and Washington that would be another story, but I don't get the appeal of bringing in modern day politicians.

The attraction has always had a very positive and inspirational message regardless of who is president.

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^I think you're spot on. I was almost hoping that with the success of the Muppet Show they are doing in that same plaza they could instead announce the closing of Hall of Presidents and move a more elaborate Muppet History show into the building, but you're right, the crazies would come out of the woodwork and cause trouble.

 

Yeah, it would be a bad move politically, but a Muppet History show would be better than the Hall of Presidents. Even so, I'd be curious to hear the Trump animatronic give it's little speech. It would probably just make lots of goofy faces and flail its arms around.

 

That being said, Disney should replace the Great Movie Ride at the Studios park with the old Muppet version they were toying with years ago.

 

Edited by cfc
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Give the current political climate, I can hear a lot of cheers and jeers with the new addition to HOP during the show. I think I may avoid that one for a while.

 

Oh for sure, when we were there in the spring there were plenty of people booing the Barack Obama animatronic (yes... booing an animatonic, you heard that right). People are incapable of acting like adults when it comes to politics, no matter how positive they make the message.

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Thoughts? Maybe I'm underestimating the appeal of the Hall of Presidents but it never struck me as an overly popular attraction.

Do not underestimate the popularity of Hall of Presidents. I have seen it three times recently and it has played to a nearly packed to completely full house every time. I saw it the day after the election, and sat out front of it finishing a drink for about 5 minutes. I witnessed a very interesting exchange....

 

Random Guest to CM: "Is Trump in here now?"

CM: "No, Trump was only elected yesterday so technically he is not our President yet but he will be added later next year."

Me to CM after guest walks away: "Wait, are people seriously asking TODAY if Trump is in there, after only being elected last night?"

CM: "I've been here only a few hours and I've had no fewer than 500 people ask me already."

 

Wow. So not only are people stupid enough to vote for the guy, they also are dumb enough to think he would be in the Hall of Presidents THE VERY NEXT DAY.

 

Our world is doomed...

Edited by robbalvey
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Random Guest to CM: "Is Trump in here now?"

CM: "No, Trump was only elected yesterday so technically he is not our President yet but he will be added later next year."

Me to CM after guest walks away: "Wait, are people seriously asking TODAY if Trump is in there, after only being elected last night?"

CM: "I've been here only a few hours and I've had no fewer than 500 people ask me already."

 

Maybe they made an animatronic for all the candidates, so the next day they could just put the elected one in...

Edited by JordyC
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For a place that's supposed to be an escape from reality, there's nothing that brings you back to reality like seeing side by side Barack Obama and Donald Trump animatronics. If they left it with presidents that are well respected by everyone from hundreds of years ago like Lincoln and Washington that would be another story, but I don't get the appeal of bringing in modern day politicians.

I agree with this completely. I've actually never stepped foot in the Hall of Presidents - nor do I have a desire to, even as much as I love both history and politics - but it amazes me that they've kept up with it to this day. Have the Founding Fathers in it, maybe some presidents that are notable (I'd go as far to say that Obama could've been added, say, after the next election cycle to mark the first black president), but other than that I fail to see why every president needs a robot version of themselves in a room at Disney World.

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^ It sure was! Not only that, but Disney had planned a future spot for the HoP in Disneyland itself, way back when.

The photo of my 1962 map below, shows where two future side streets were being considered. And HoP appeared to

be located right under that Liberty Street banner, there.

DLmap1962i.JPG.baf08153901c2497bd6b8777504d1455.JPG

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Have the Founding Fathers in it, maybe some presidents that are notable (I'd go as far to say that Obama could've been added, say, after the next election cycle to mark the first black president), but other than that I fail to see why every president needs a robot version of themselves in a room at Disney World.

 

Pfft, screw that. It ain't a real WDW visit unless I get to see my main man, Millard Fillmore! #Fillnatic

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